i finally got the time and extra money to put into my car so lemme ask this: when replacing the t-stat can/should i go ahead and flush the whole cooling system? spray down the radiator inside and out to get rid of whatever build up she has?

 

I did when I replaced mine.

 

oops,forgot to ask,is there any special brand of t-stat i should buy? i HEARD theres one that when STARTING to fail,it'll stay in the open position instead of closed. so it doesnt force the car to ride extremely hot. correct me on that if you want,but any suggestions on buying a t-stat? or will any autozone piece of **** do?

 

Honda OEM. if it sticks closed then that is bad since aluminum engines cannot endure overheating like cast iron ones can.

 

It makes good mechanical sense to flush the cooling system, particularly if you're preforming related maintenance like replacing the Thermostat and it hasn't been flushed recently.
I'd suggest going with a known good product (Honda). That's not to say that there aren't other good Thermostat's out there (It doesn't require a Rocket Scientist to design a Thermostat) but I wouldn't want to have to revisit this during a long trip.

Thermostats can fail full open (no heat, poor gas mileage) or closed (overheats, engine damage, burst radiators (bad stuff)) regardless of manufacturer.

P

 

I did mine recently.
I had a bad thermostat. I did not cared for the brand. I just got one from Autozone and believe me it works fine.
Yes I did had radiator flush before replacing it.
While I had radiator flush, I discovered a new fact about my car. It is a reverse flow. The man at uncle- edd was trying to have the flush in regular way, but it never worked. He said that he will give it up after a last try in a reverse manner. But fortunately it worked.